Pastor Creflo Dollar Denies Allegations of Choking His Daughter

Mega-church pastor Creflo Dollar was arrested Friday after allegedly choking and punching his 15-year-old daughter. In his first public appearance sense he was charged with misdemeanor counts of simple battery and cruelty to children, Dollar denied that the claims were true in front of his Atlanta congregation of 30,000 members before beginning his sermon.

He was arrested shortly after 1am when his daughter called the police and told a Fayette County sheriff’s deputy that her father charged at her and then began punching and choking her after they got into an argument about her attending a party. His 19-year-old daughter also confirmed that the story was accurate.

Dollar told his congregation, which appeared very supportive of him, that he was wrongly arrested and that emotions got involved when he began to argue with his youngest daughter and the situation escalated from there, before he reassured them that he didn’t physically harm his daughter in anyway.

Dollar is one of the most well-known and respected preachers in the metro Atlanta area because of the size of his World Changers Church International and other satellite ministry campuses around the U.S.